(COMPLETE) Sanders Sides - Ghosts (analogical book)

Chapter 5 - NASA Boy

Words: 1256 Published: 12/2/21

As a lot of the classrooms were completely empty and barren Virgil and Janus had a large choice of where to sleep. After a few trial runs the pair decided on one of the old math classrooms, it was still in use but only for about one period per day. If Virgil's memory suited him right it was built in the mid-2000s – so didn't have all the software and modern teaching resources the other classrooms had.

It was the dead of night and both boys lay on the floor. Janus was in a ball, the blanket he bought covering him from head to toe and he was fast asleep. Virgil didn't have that luxury; he was awake and thinking. He hated his thoughts. What if he got into trouble for breaking into school? He could get arrested by the police – which is bad enough – then he'll have to explain why he broke in. He'd be called ghost-kid for the rest of eternity!

After struggling to sleep for around half an hour Virgil exhaled, stood and walked out the classroom. It was still completely dark, but all Virgil cared about was walking his stress away.

The school was honestly scary at night. Everything was a shadow, the light rain was tapping on the windows, but apart from that everything was still. What was normally a bustling corridor with the sounds of lockers closing and students chatting and teachers shouting was now silent. Virgil felt an immense desire to tap on a locker so there was at least some sound. But the silence showed the actual architecture of the building. And by that, the walls really needed paving and repainting but everything else looked clean and furbished. He always thought the beige paint on the walls was way too boring compared to the colourful classrooms. But as Virgil was walking he realised how much he enjoyed the alone time, and everything was peaceful.

That was until he saw a figure just outside of the classroom he was sleeping in. He stayed away, watching the figure slowly move. It was sat against the wall with a book resting on their lap. The person looked peaceful, not worrying if someone saw him, just calmly reading alone in the pitch black. Virgil carried on walking, towards the person but looking away from them in case they were shy or aggressive.

The person suddenly stood up as Virgil turned his head away, gasping and flinching as though he'd never seen another human before. The sudden noise made Virgil also jump and turn back towards the person, smiling softly. "Hey, I don't bite." Virgil laughed.

The person nodded, the moonlight out of a near window framing their face. "Yes, of course." The person, a boy, whispered looking up from his book and into Virgil's eyes. Virgil didn't know the boy from school, such a distinctive look – and by that Virgil meant he looked quite attractive – with sharp cheekbones, small black glasses and almost black hair covering half of one eye, along with a NASA hoodie, black ripped jeans and black sneakers. Well, everything looked black seeming the pair were in complete darkness so seeing colour was impossible. Virgil realised he was staring after a minute and looked down, swaying side to side in front of the new person.

"Um... So what are you doing here?" Virgil managed to mumble without turning red, giving the boy opposite him a small smirk while he glanced confused.

"I could say the same to you." He attacked back, his glance becoming a glare as he held his book to his chest. "You could get into trouble for breaking into school property." The person said, their voice gentle but trying to sound more aggressive by his tone.

Virgil didn't feel like arguing, so he just ducked his head again and took a deep breath. "I'm Virgil, you?" Virgil said sweetly, or at least as sweet as he could manage. He hated acting sweet – especially to people who decide to hate him off the bat for whatever stupid reason.

"Why do you want to know?" The person attacked again, making Virgil sigh and close his eyes for a second so he didn't let any anger escape him. The stranger started to turn and walk away, but Virgil decided to follow. If the person was going to be aggressive for no real reason, then Virgil was going to be annoying for no real reason. This was payback.

"Oh come on, I'm breaking the law here too I won't tell anyone you're in here. I just want to know your first name." Virgil demanded. The stranger turned back around quickly to face him with a bored expression.

"Logan." The person said quietly, and as if he could tell the next question forming in his mind he spoke again. "I'm a senior – and I'm new to the school. That's why you don't know me. Now can I please go?" The last sentence was said sweetly, with a tilt of the head and a fake smile. Virgil crossed his arms, rolled his eyes and scowled. "Delightful. Good night." Logan turned again and began walking away. At first Virgil just watched him walk away, then began to follow in small steps. He seemed to be walking at a quick pace, trying to get away, but Virgil hadn't finished his payback.

Just as the person turned the corner a small red light showed, L's light, making Virgil stop and smile. The person didn't seem to appear again or care as Virgil approached the light and called it as if it were a cat, then began playing with it and chasing it down the corridor. The light stopped just outside the classroom Janus was sleeping in, bumping against the door. Virgil said goodbye to the light – as insane as that sounded - and went back into the classroom to sleep. Logan still played on his mind, maybe they'd meet again during school hours and the NASA nerd wouldn't be too cranky.

*****

Logan absorbed himself through the door with a growl, immediately spotting Roman also entering the small closet he was hiding in and trying to silence a giggle. "I saved your ass there Lo, that kid would follow you around the school if he wasn't attracted to a moving light like a – cat..." Roman giggled. Logan sat on the floor and opened his book again.

"We are never allowing any students to break into school again. This is ridiculous." Logan sighed. Usually he didn't have to worry about being visible on the weekends or after classes. It took a lot of concentration to not be visible to living beings, and Logan did not have the energy or the want to concentrate when he was reading a good book. Having a human in the school was a major inconvenience.

"Well, I think he's fun." Roman laughed, brushing a hand through his hair and landing on a small cleaning products shelf. "Plus, you two had that bonding moment earlier! Maybe you can have like a Romeo and Juliet situation – or Hamlet – Which one's Lion King again?"

Logan decided to ignore his friend, reading. He didn't want to think about this Virgil Church. So far he was just an annoying student that ruined his weekend. Sure – he had literal eternity to spend good weekends reading and relaxing but Virgil ruined just this one. Hopefully after this weekend Virgil would just disappear from Logan's life and he could just live out the rest of eternally peacefully in his library.